Running, Jumping, Dodging - The Past Two Weeks In Review.

So, the past week or two has been crazy busy for me. So much has happened or is still happening. I feel like I'm constantly on the run, going from one place to he next, catching trains, racing in cabs, leaving one joint to get to another, all in the process of meeting the many obligations which I've committed myself to. I am a man in motion. And honestly, I love it. I love being busy. I feel alive and vital.

Here are a bunch of quick updates on what I am talking about.

Fugue.
After the show, the cast of "97 Bulldogs" admitted that they call our show "Fugued" (pronounced "Fyoo-ged"), which is pretty funny.
The show opened on Wednesday to a decently sized audience. (I was very happy to see Ryan and Jammerz there in the house. Although, I didn't get a chance to see if anyone else that I know was there.)
The show went well(ish). It was a solid B+. There were some tentative scene starts and a few of them spun-out, focusing on a single topic or activity over and over again (Don calls it "getting stuck in the loop" and I think that's an applicable title), but overall, we were very happy with the results.
And yes, the opening was a little wierd for the audience, but I think that they slowly got into it. And I heard over and over again, "Once I got onboard with what you were doing, I was really actively engaged. There was a lot to look at and take in." Which was what we were hoping for.
Pre-show, I was wandering around backstage, wearing a sharp looking suit, humming "Come Fly With Me" to myself and it ocurred to me that THIS was what I like my own improv to feel like. Looking as sharp as genetics and bad diet will let me, feeling as smart and as alive as I can feel, ready to challenge and entertain an audience. For this, I give up on kids, domesticity, predictability and security. It's a good life and I'm lucky to live it.
Oh, and after the show, we all went to Joey's Brickhouse for cocktails and burgers. Everyone was buzzing from the show. We kept talking about it, processing the show over and over again. We complimented each other and Don. And he was clearly thrilled with what we gave him. I think we all agreed that there's a little room for improvement. So, we're chomping at the bit to try it again, this time with confidence and experience.
At the bar, Don Hall said something that really moved me and I want to share it here. I'll just try to recreate what he said.
"Jen and I were talking about the show and I told her that I had individual goals for each cast member. She asked me what my goal was for you and I told her, "I want [Mr.B] to know that I saw 'The Monday Show'."
Meaning that he wanted me to know that he saw it and appreciate what we were doing with that show, agreed with our philosophy about improv, and used a bit of it when directing this show. And that's huge to me. Someone processing and incorporating your show ideas into their own. It means a lot to me, to have my show, appreciated like that.
I think Don would've probably incorporated some "Monday Show" elements into his own show, whether I was in the cast or not. I'm just incredibly lucky to BE IN the show that has a taste of my show in it, too.
He and I agreed that they were two different songs on an "Improv The Way We Would Like To See It" album. Similar in style, but original on their own.
So, that made my night.

Sicker and Sicker.
I think that this show is going to happen, actually. The word is out that we're up and running. The cast is set for the Free Preview and I'm already looking ahead to Spring of next year.
Yesterday, I printed up the proto-posters for the show and posted them in the PG bathroom and in the display box. I want to hit IO and post a few there, too. Just to drum up interest in the community for the preview show.
I also listed the show in Metromix and will be adding it to the Reader's show listings too. And today, I'm sending out an email blast to all of my email buddies to let them know about the show. Why not? Who doesn't like sick stories?
There's always more you can do to promote your show.
In a wierd way, I feel like I'm doing this for the first time, all over again. It's been 2 years since I produced something. And each day, I think, "Oh yeah, I probably SHOULD create a press release/email friends/update the MySpace page/ collect MySpace Friends/etc." All stuff I already knew to do. I just remember it in a random order.

Monday Pictures Presents...
Monday Pictures is kicking into gear again.
I think we were all a little stunned to be losing Bob and Stacey so quickly. But now that they're safely in Portland, setting up shop there, we're getting back together and making short films again.
For easy reference to what I'm talking about, why not try clicking on the new "Monday Pictures" button in my sidebar and taking a looksee at some of what we have been working on.
We've recently added one new member to the team, "Scott". And we're finally shooting Erin's "Pizza Guy" idea, on Labor Day. My old college friend, Stacy, is stepping in as the "Girlfriend". It'll be fun to play with her, again.
Matt and I are talking about an ambitious little short film that we want to work on, next called, "Letting Go" which is about death, grieving, Hendo and the biggest shit that a mortal man has ever experienced. More on that, later.
It's nice to see that group is still going, despite the loss of two of our key players.

Workshopped.
Next weekend, the day after I open "SFS", I begin my first workshop in...um...what?...three or four years? I have Dina Facklis, Paul Grondy, Holly Laurent and Pat O Brien. I am particularly looking forward to working with Paul Grondy again. He's one of the best teachers I ever had.
I am also excited about the "Mock Second City Auditions" that the workshop offers. I am coming up on my first potential SC audition ever. And I'm hungry for it. I want it, badly! This feels like the first step in the right direction. I'm VERY interested to see what that "mock audition" has to offer me.

Kissed on The Gaza Strip.
Maybe it's the summer.
Maybe it's my inherit sexiness.
But there's been a whirlwind of Romantic Activity around me.

One lovely lass has smiled up at me with lovely blue eyes and offered to "TF" me. (Don't know what a "TF" is? Email me and I'll let you know.)
I don't know if she meant the offer to actually stand, but Lord, I DID consider it.

Another lovely lass from the distant past is moving to Chicago, this fall. I don't know what designs she has for me, but it can't be good. I think that she aims to get me naked and wrestle me to the ground. Which could be fun.

Another lovely lass that used to come to my apartment and do nasty, terrible things to me has begun popping up again in latenight emails and phone calls and text messages. They never outright offer another night of rolling and tumbling, but I can't help but think that the offer is just...right....there, on the edge of her messages. Unspoken, but undeniably there.
Which is fine. We maintain a tentative cease-fire here.
But if she ever DOES speak it, if she ever DOES make the offer, I will have to go to her apartment and do nasty, terrible things to her. That's just the way that works.

Another lovely lass gets as close to me as she will permit herself to and then walks away, hands shaking and heart racing. I don't think she wants to "sex me up", so much as she wants to kiss me and press our two bodies together. But she's got prior obligations going and I think we're in agreement that those plans should take priority.
There IS something exciting, though, about looking at a woman and seeing her that "turned on" by something I did or said or something that she perceived that I did or said.
Very nice.

And yet another lovely lass, different from the others altogether, has wrapped her long arms around me and whispered things to me that soothed me and kissed me on the temple of my forehead and said, "This is mine. This area right here. I am claiming this. The Gaza Strip of your head. And I'm just going to kiss it for a bit and it's going to be okay. Okay?" And she did.
And standing there, in the hallway of the restaurant, outside the bathrooms, while friends busily rushed past us to sneak a peek and make sure that everything was all right, we stood and hugged and she kissed me and I thought to myself, "Women are the mercurial waters of the world. It doesn't matter how hard I think I am. Or how jagged I think my edges are. There isn't a shape or a form that I can emotionally take that can't be swallowed up by a woman, who is sufficiently deep enough. She just keeps going and going. Endlessly deep." And I just relaxed and let myself be kissed on The Gaza Strip, with no thoughts of what it meant or where things were going or any of the other things that I normally think about. I just surrendered to her and that's where we stood. For a very long time.

I don't know what any of this will come to. I can't tell you what these women will mean to my life, in a week, or a month, or a year from now. But I can tell you that things are very interesting, right now. I literally never know what's going to happen from one moment to the next and that's absolutely thrilling.

The New Job.
The New Job has more "better" days and fewer "fucking terrible" days, than it used to. I am taking this as a sign that I am getting slowly better at this gig. And that the ladies are growing to appreciate me more and more.
One of the ladies is going to be a grandmother, this Labor Day weekend. I took the initiative on my own and bought a nice cinammon, crumble cake and left it in the breakroom for all four of us to enjoy. And I got loads of compliments on that. I think it went a long way to assuring them that I'm a valuable commodity. And worth keeping around, for as long as they possibly can.
I am winning them over with cake and diligence.
In that order.


A Quick Fiscal Report.
Well, things are slowly turning around. I am digging my way OUT of the hole that June put me in. Two very good friends of mine loaned me the cash to get through that down-swing and I keep my debts to them on a post-it note, here, next to my computer. It feels good to direct some cash to them. To begin paying those bills off.
I get the same rush by paying back a debt, that I used to get, scouring Used Music Stores for good deals on cheap DVDs.
I haven't bought a DVD for myself since December. Nine months.
I think my fiscal appetites are changing.

Maggie Wets The Bed.
One unusual side effect of this whole "Paralyzed Dog" story is that the steroids have made Maggie thirsty all the time. Before the accident, before my dog "got hooked on the junk", she would go through a bottle of water in two days. After she got her Cortizone injection, she was going through two bottles a day. Which is a lot of water for such a little dog. Naturally, we had a few accidents.

Seven of them, actually.

In less than a week.

Seven times that Maggie would just stop walking, look up at me apologetically and then pee all over the place.

Nasty, nasty stuff.

It was frustrating. Lord, it was frustrating. But I didn't paddle her or chastise her for it. She literally couldn't control herself. And she knew that it was bad, because she would immediately run and hide, in anticipation of the scoldings that Puppy Maggie got. So, I would clean it up and run through nearly an entire roll of paper towels and soak the damp spot with loads of "pet urine deoderizer". Each and every time. I can't bear the thought that my apartment, which already smells like dog and sweaty dudes, would also smell like dog whiz. So, the cleanings were immediate and thorough.

So, I am embarrased to say that it took me nearly a week to think about rationing her water. When she was drinking as much as she was, I would go fill it up every time that I saw that the bowl was empty. And that's how the dog got access to two bottles of water a day. My fault entirely.

Now, I give her half a bottle at the start of the day. And another half of a bottle when I get home in the afternoon. It's still a whole bottle, but it's spread out over a whole day. And so she's now able to hold it until she gets her walkies. Which have increased to 3 or 4 a day, now.

Better Living Through Pet Management.

Oh and for those who are looking for an update, she's back at 100% mobility. No need for surgery (this time). I am better about keeping her from jumping up and down on the furniture. She gets lifted into bed and back down on the floor and that's going to be the plan, for now on.

In Closing...

Fuck. I feel like there's more. A lot more that I am not doing an adequate job of capturing here. There are things that I want to tell you and I can't organize them enough to get them into this emailed update.

Ah well. What's to be done?

I'll post this now and if something else pops up, I'll drop it in here as an addendum.

This is how things are for me.
How are they for you?